abor: Job Fair for Laid-off Tech Workers First in Area
Party down and find a job in the process.
In a different twist on the job fair concept, recently laid-off high-tech workers are invited to find a new employer in a setting not usually known for such activity: a local microbrewery.
A group of local high-tech trade groups are hosting what they are calling “the county’s first pink slip party” from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. April 23 at the Karl Strauss Brewery in Sorrento Valley.
“We saw something like this being done in the Bay area and in New York, and we thought we’d try it here,” said Abi Barrow, director of programs for UCSD Connect, which is sponsoring the event with AeA (formerly the American Electronics Association) and the San Diego Tech Force.
Barrow said although there have been an increased number of lay-offs among local high-tech firms, a good number of companies are still expanding and actively hiring new workers.
“This will be a fun job fair aimed at helping those companies who are recruiting workers to recruit more effectively and shorten the time for those people who are unemployed,” she said.
Between 30 to 40 local high-tech firms are expected to participate in the event, which is partly underwritten by the offices of two prominent local career search companies, Lee Hecht Harrison and Drake Beam Morin.
“We’ll bring as many people as they need,” said Leslie Thorp, general manager of Lee Hecht Harrison in San Diego. “We’ll probably be doing quick reviews of resumes, and answer questions. It’ll be a mini-career session.”
But isn’t it dangerous to mix the job hunt with alcohol?
Thorp says because of the numbers of people attending and the setting, it’s unlikely any real interviews will occur.
“(Recruiters) will be just doing quick screening of resumes, collecting them, providing information about their companies to prospective employees, and setting future appointments,” she said.
While the setting may be relaxing, Thorp advises job-seekers to be careful about imbibing, or not drink at all.
She also advises dressing well , dressing the same as if an interview might take place, and to bring a resume.
Kevin Carroll, AeA executive director, said the pink slip party has a definite tone of irreverancy because while losing a job is certainly a serious matter, the fact is the San Diego area still has a fairly healthy tech industry, with many firms continuing to grow and add new positions.
“On the technical talent side, there’s still a lot of companies who are hiring and spending a lot of money on that,” Carroll said. “There’s a tone of irreverancy because we see an optimism by (recently laid-off) workers, and that optimism is justified because many of those workers are being absorbed back into this economy.”
But not everyone was so positive. At a seminar last week on the future of the region’s high-tech industry, local analyst Bruce Ahern provided a dramatic contrarian view.
He said San Diego is in the middle of an economic decline that began in August 1999 and won’t hit bottom for another 2 & #733; years.
San Diego may be a hotbed of innovation and an excellent place to start new companies, but when things get tough in the global and national economies, the larger corporations with division offices here will likely cut their local operations. The lack of real capital for many start-ups is already being felt and will get worse, Ahern said.
“There are too many highly leveraged, under-funded, narrow-market operations here. They’re fragile, and those are the ones that will fall quickly.”
